The Major Planets as Powerful Transformers of Cometary Orbits

Abstract

The equations of motion of many of the comets of the Jupiter and Saturn families have been integrated for a period of 400 yr. Several examples illustrate the role of the major planets, especially Jupiter, in the evolution of these orbits: in such cases comets may be captured by Jupiter from Saturn's family or ejected from Jupiter's family into Saturn's, and so on; the possible escape of a comet along a hyperbolic orbit and the capture by Jupiter of a comet from a hyperbolic orbit are also demonstrated. Fictitious comets of the Uranus and Neptune families are also studied. It is concluded that a combination of diffusion theory and capture theory is in good agreement with the observations and makes it possible to consider both long- and short-period comets as part of a unified cometary complex.